


Curiosity

by Knife_Consumer



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Before cannon, M/M, could be seen as a ship tho, hahahaha school is destroying me mentally, idk if the butler has a cannon name so i named him valet, im not sure how to tag it it's mainly platonic, kind of shippy???, lurien's a butterfly btw, pk and monomon are only mentioned, trying to acurately depict a panic attack from my own experience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:54:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26333002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knife_Consumer/pseuds/Knife_Consumer
Summary: Valet wonders what Lurien's wings look like.
Relationships: Lurien the Watcher & Lurien the Watcher's Butler (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

"Valet?" Lurien called to the other side of the spire, where his butler was cleaning. Hearing the call of his name, Valet dropped what he was doing and scurried over to Lurien.  
"Yes?" Valet was a small bug, compared to Lurien that is. Really he was of an average stature, but Lurien was almost over half his height, so he needed to look up in order to speak to him directly.

"I would like your opinion on something, if you wouldn't mind." 

"Oh, of course! Ehm, what exactly are we talking about though?"

"Well... nothing big. Just a few observations of mine about the city." Lurien paused to think of which ones he would bring up in their conversation. Spending every day in his spire, saying that he had 'just a few' observations was the understatement of the century.  
"Valet, what are your thoughts on the blue lake? I, for one, am slightly concerned..."

"Mh? Why's that?" He questioned, glancing out of the window and into the constant downpour that took place in the city.

"It wasn't always like this, you know." Lurien said, staring out at the city below them.   
"Not too long ago, water from the blue lake hadn't leaked through gaps in the ceiling and into the city. The fact that it just happened so suddenly, and in such large amounts, leads me to believe the roof is about to give."

Valet gave this some thought. Lurien had noticed over time that, when he thought hard about something, he'd almost always scratch the sides of his face and end up tilting his head a bit. He answered,  
"... That could be possible, yes." 

He wasn't sure when or why he had first noticed this about his butler, but now everytime he'd ask a question, he'd wait for him to carry out at least one of his little quirks. This time he did both.  
"though," he continued, "I don't think it should be a cause for concern."

"Not a cause for concern, you say? I don't think you have a full grasp of this situation." 

"Ah, maybe I don't."   
Valet walked back over to the other side of the room, digging through drawers and setting their contents on Lurien's bed.  
"After all, I haven't been here as long as you have. 'M not as smart, either."

Taking note of his butler's actions, Lurien rose from his seat and headed towards the smaller bug. He had picked him out an outfit for the day. How nice. It was something more formal than his usual dark blue robes, instead, this was almost all white silk, excluding the navy blue floral patterns on the sleeves. 

Ah, thats right. He had a meeting with the king today, didn't he? He should probably start getting ready now, then.

Valet rarely saw Lurien without his mask, the few times he did, it was an accident. (One of these said accidents, Valet had walked in on him while he was changing clothes. Lurien shreeked and threw a book at him before he could get a good look. He got a concussion. Good times.)

So, it came as a shock when Lurien had taken off his mask, right in front of him.  
He looked...   
different  
than what Valet had expected. He had thought that the one-eyed mask was just for aesthetic purposes, though, as it turned out, Lurien did in fact only have one eye. Right in the middle of his head.

What was that called again? Cy.. cyclopia?  
He couldn't remember. Not that it mattered anyway. Aside from that, he noticed that his antenna were long and curled back, slightly fuzzy and speckled as well. Instead of having mandibles, like a majority of bugs did, he had a proboscis, and... oh.   
That made much more sense, now that he thought about it.

Lurien always had a love for flowers, and cared much more about his appearance than the other bugs around him. How had he not realized it before? Lurien was a butterfly.

Lurien either didn't notice Valet's gawking, or he had just chosen to say nothing about it, as he continued on with his routine. Cleaning off his antenna and making sure they weren't too ruffeled. Only when he started to change his clothing did he ask Valet to leave. (Who got embarrassed and felt like an idiot for staring so long.)

Now that Lurien had tended to his antenna, he dicided to work on his wings a bit. Living and working in the spire ment that Lurien never got that much exercise to begin with, so he at least had to stretch every day.   
He started by slowly frilling them out, watching as a curtain of shimmering blue scales spread out behind him, before folding them back up again. He repeated this process a few times, each time picking up the pace until he had a consistent speed going.  
As stupid as it made him feel, Lurien had never learned to fly. 

For his sister, Marissa, (who he hadn't checked up on in a while, he should say hi.) flight just came naturally.   
The same thing could be said for his peers and parents, who, despite trying as best as they could to hide their dissapointment in their own son, ultimately failed and made him feel even worse.

A little later in life, his parents brought him to a doctor, who, after careful examination, claimed that the reason Lurien couldn't fly was that his wings were too weak. Brittle and underdeveloped, even.

Needless to say, it hurt a bit, finding out that he would never fly.

But he was past that hurt now.  
He had accepted it a long time ago, perfectly content in living a grounded life. Much like a majority of the bugs around him. His own butler included.

Speaking of which, after Lurien slid his robes on, adjusted them, and then put on his mask, he set out to look for the smaller bug. He didn't have to go far, as Valet was standing at the bookshelf, mindlessly flipping through the pages of a random book.

"Well, how is it?"  
Valet obviously wasn't expecting to be spoken to, as he jolted and nearly dropped what he was reading on his toes.   
'Always so easy to startle' Lurien thought to himself.

"Ah well, the book is about-"

"My clothes, Valet. How do they look?"

"Uh! Oh! I'd say it's..."  
Valet gave him a quick once-over.  
"I'd say it looks great!"

Lurien chuckled, "I'd certainly hope so, you're the one who picked it out." He dusted off his sleeves out of habit. "Now come on, our meeting with the king will start soon. We don't want to be late."

"Right..." Valet knew that meeting with the king was important, yet at the same time, he would have rather stayed in the spire. He had questions for Lurien, some of which were probably a bit too invasive, or just flat out rude. (He was never rude on purpose, though. He just had a hard time figuring out which questions were appropriate and which weren't.)

But the one question that was bugging him the most was: what did his wings look like?   
Was there a reason that he never saw them?  
As they walked to the kings station, he found that it was the only thing on his mind. Staring intensely at Lurien's back, as though it would make his wings magically appear. The taller of the two must have noticed, as he stopped and turned around to face Valet. He spoke, "Is something bothering you?"

Caught off gaurd, Valet scrambled for a response. "Um.. Nothing! I'm quite fine!"

"Really, now? You seem troubled to me."  
Lurien wasn't buying it. Might as well fess up now.

"Ah... To be honest with you, I've been wondering... um..."

How do you eat with a mouth like that? Is it difficult?

Your antenna look so soft... could I touch them?

Why did you never tell me you were a butterfly? 

Could I...

"Ehem,, um... Could I... Can I see your wings?"

Lurien stayed silent, staring down at Valet. Not being able to read the taller bug's expression, Valet started to panic. Had he said something wrong? That was too personal, wasn't it? He had messed up.

After a long silence, Lurien spoke: "Follow me, Valet."  
He nodded wordlessly, quivering and holding his breath the entire walk. They had come to a more secluded area, an abandoned stagway that was currently under renovations, though the construction team did almost nothing, and were never there. This was one of those times when they were slacking off, exploring the city instead of doing their work.

Valet was all alone with Lurien.

He was terrified.

Lurien sat down on the one bench that was available. After building up a bit of confidence, Valet sat down too, keeping his distance out of fear.

Was he going to be yelled at?

He mentally braced himself when he heard Lurien sigh. 

Or even worse, was he going to be fired? He was about to get fired, wasn't he? He should've known this would happen eventually, he had always asked too many questions.

All of his worries flooded away when he heard Lurien laugh, smooth and comforting. "You look awful tense, It makes me wonder what you could possibly be worried about."   
Valet hadn't noticed, but Lurien had taken his mask off again, his large, blue eye still squinted from when he was laughing.   
Setting his mask to the side, he continued, "... I'm sorry if my silence worried you, I was just... a bit taken back, I suppose. I hadn't expected you to ask anything like that."

Valet couldn't believe it. Lurien wasn't mad? After he had asked something like that? Knowing that there was most likely a reason he kept his wings hidden?  
"You're... you're not mad at me?"

"Of course not! What made you think that?"

"I- I just thought that maybe it was to personal, and- and I only realized that after I said It-"

Lurien cut him off.  
"No, no, you really do worry too much. I would never get mad over something like that."  
He started to fiddle with the fabric tied around his waist. Just enough so that the silk around his back loosened and slumped to his shoulders.  
"Curiosity is a good thing, in my opinion. The urge to learn more is what has brought society to this point. It's because of our inquiries that Hallownest became much more advanced than it's neighboring kingdoms."

He took a second to scratch his neck before continuing,   
"Those aren't my own words, by the way. I could never say something so insightful right off the tip of my tounge. Monomon told me that a few days ago."

Valet couldn't help but giggle a bit, to which Lurien did as well.  
"Now then, you would like to see them, right? My wings?"

"Yeah..."

He turned his back to Valet and in a flash his wings were spread out, hitting one side of the bench and making his robes slide down around his waist.  
"Ouhhh... ouch."   
He grabbed where he had hit the bench and looked to see if he was still ok. He really needed to be more careful.

But Valet didn't pay any mind to his little blunder, too preoccupied staring at the glowing cyan of Lurien's scales. He had never seen anything like it before, so bright compared the the dull transparency of the winged sentries. It was rare in itself to encounter a winged bug, let alone one with such vibrant colors.

They looked so glossy and smooth... could he ask to touch them? He didn't want to seem like a creep, especially not to his boss, but at the same time, he had never been so close to something along the likes of this. It was so tempting, to reach out just a little bit and feel the glide of scales against his fingers.

"Valet. You're leaning."  
Huh?   
He noticed a bit too late that he had infact leaned forward, and the one second of clarity he had only lasted until his face hit the bench with a loud 'bonk'. Above him, he could hear Lurien being sent into a laughing fit, all the while gently trying to coax him back up.  
"My, you, hahaha!" Lurien paused to try and compose himself a bit more. "Just... were they really that intresting?"

"Um... Yeah. I've never seen anything like that before." Valet sat up straight again, choosing to ignore the slight pounding in his head and focus on Lurien.

"Well, I'm guessing that since I see them every day, they aren't that special to me... though, I guess if you like them so much, I could have them out more often. Wouldn't that be nice? It does get a bit cramped, keeping them in my robe."

"Yeah that... that would be nice."  
Now that he had seen Lurien's wings, he was even more curious. Not that Lurien would mind him asking more questions, he had said that curiousity was a good thing but... He felt as though he had learned enough for one day, perfectly content with being in Lurien's presence for the time being.  
On top of that, they still had to meet with the king today, they shouldn't waste any more time than they already had.

The two left the abandoned station after a bit more conversation, passing by the workers coming back from exploring the city to actually work for once. Sheepishly saying 'hi' to Lurien, knowing that they had been caught slacking off.  
But that didn't matter right now.  
He felt like more than just a butler to Lurien.  
Maybe, just maybe... they could be friends.  
Equals.

Valet would like that.


	2. Doodles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jus some small doodles of mine,, anyway, after this ima write another chapter cuz hhhhhh.

Uhhh idk if its really gonna work but,,

https://the-knife-consumer.tumblr.com/post/631612230858833920

Im just gonna paste the links because i previewed and it didn't. Im doing this on mobile cuz i don't have personal computer. 😔

https://the-knife-consumer.tumblr.com/post/631613148723576832/ay-yuh-more-cuz-i-kinda-hate-ao3-rn-ngl-uhm

Bruhhh, anyway. They just chilling next chapter, and they kind of got together??? Idk but they share a bed and are more open with eachother, they never directly say 'ily sm omggghhhh' or anything like that soooo

Uhmmm, why are two end notes showing up?? Idk if it's just me or...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh,, btw lurien's a morpho butterfly they're really pretty

**Author's Note:**

> Uhm, might add a few doodles next chapter, drawing is definently where i shine. My writing... im not that confident in it yet. Critisism would be appreciated :))


End file.
